"Young Master Kyrell, Lord Greve has summoned you. It is time for you, along with the other Young Masters, to break your first Mortal Shackle and become an Ascendant."
A fierce-looking man spoke to a youth around 15 years of age. This man has a scar on his right eye and a face that reflects a deep sense of coldness.
When calling someone a "Young Master," one might expect that the person will be respectful as they are serving a superior, but this fierce-looking man, although not completely disrespectful, was too cold and nonchalant.
His behavior is not what you would expect a servant will act in front of the master they are serving, showing a complete disregard for position and propriety.
"I understand" the youth replied calmly, and after making sure that he looked presentable, he turned his head to the servant named Prile.
His face showed no trace of surprise or displeasure at how this servant acted. After all, Prile might be a servant, but he is one of the close aides of the Everblack Family's Patriarch. He was not someone to be trifled with.
As for the youth, he might have the position of a Young Master, but he does not have the power of one.
With the youth turning his head to Prile, the latter once again saw the unique appearance of Kyrell.
Half of Kyrell's hair was black in color, as dark as the deepest abyss, while the other half was silver white, as if the Moon Goddess blessed him. His eyes were red in color and it was completely devoid of any emotions, yet the contrast of each of his features was sculpted into perfection, giving him a visual to be proud of.
While the servant Prile has an air of coldness around him, Kyrell, on the other hand, radiates a sense of indifference as if no one can squeeze much of a reaction from him.
Kyrell was wearing a long tunic made from ivory silk with a swirling silver and blue pattern on the edge of its wide sleeves. He has a simple and striking blue belt on his waist, and his trousers are lightly loose yet refined with a swirling design similar to the one on his sleeves.
The neat clothes he was wearing further elevated his youthful charm. Too bad that such a handsome face was not showing any trace of joy on it.
Without as much as saying another word, Kyrell walked out of his bedroom, heading to what he could describe as a dreadful venue.
—-
When Kyrell arrived at his destination, he saw no less than fifteen youths of similar age. Each of them has at least one similarity when it comes to their facial features since all of them have the same father, just with different mothers. Indeed, these youths all have the same father, and a very powerful one at that.
As such, even though they are all the "Young Masters" and "Young Ladies" of the clan, it's not like they were extremely important. After all, if one of them dies, there are many more that can replace them.
"To think that these are just my half-siblings of similar age to me, just how many more half-siblings do I have?" Kyrell wondered before his eyes turned into a peculiar pool filled with blood-red fluid.
Any pool with such a color gives off a sense of dread. The smell of iron in the air was extra strong and pungent, as if a massacre had just taken place here. The water in the pool was constantly churning as if they are being boiled. Bubbles continuously appeared on the surface, but they didn't last long before they popped and were replaced by another bubble.
The liquid in the pool is not just blood-red colored; they are indeed real blood. They are the blood of Kyrell's fellow clansmen who failed to break their first Mortal Shackle and become Ascendants.
When a person failed to become an Ascendant on their first try, it's not like they do not have a second chance of succeeding. However, such people are deemed to be untalented and are better off becoming fuel for the Blood Pool to help other people who might have better talents.
"If I don't become an Ascendant today, I too will become a permanent part of the Bloodline Pool. I will make sure that will not happen!" Kyrell thought coldly, yet not even a slight ripple appeared on his face. He is a master of hiding his real emotions.
"B-brother, w-will we really d-die if we f-fail to become an A-Ascendant?" The voice of a young girl entered Kyrell's ears, and when he looked at the source, he saw one of his half-siblings.
"Andora, don't be afraid! Your brother is here. I will make sure that both of us will become Ascendants! We will become the talents of the clan, and glory will belong to us!" Another youth, presumably the full-blood brother of the girl, said with full conviction, yet those with discerning eyes can see the fear he was hiding. He was clearly only putting on a brave front.
The effects of the Bloodline Pool are no secret to everyone in the Everblack Family, a rising Ascendant Clan.
While the Bloodline Pool can help aspiring Ascendants to become stronger than their peers, it was not without any risk. In fact, the risk was actually high. There is a mortality rate of a whopping 50%. It was scary just to think of such a percentage.
With the gathering of almost twenty youths, it was hard to prevent them from being noisy. Similar discussions were held by the other youths, and they were all fidgeting. None was without any trace of fear showing, except for one person who still has an air of indifference around him.
"Hmph! Stop being pretentious! Kyrell, do you think you are better than us just because you are a bit smarter? It doesn't matter if you are a bit smarter than us; cultivation talent is the most important! I don't believe that you will survive the Bloodline Pool to awaken your Spirit Armament and become an Ascendant! You will just become a fertilizer for the rest of us!"
Another one of Kyrell's half-siblings spoke directly to him. He was showing strong aggressiveness towards Kyrell, but the latter just shook his head. With his discerning eyes, he can see that this is just this kid's way of venting his fear.
Instead of drowning in his own emotions, the kid decided to turn Kyrell into an outlet where he can vent out his fear and anxiety.
"What the! Are you ignoring me?! Do you really believe you are special?!" The youth asked angrily after seeing that Kyrell merely gave him a glance without much of a reaction.
While people generally become an Ascendant once they are fifteen years old, a Clan like the Everblack Clan already started educating their children at a much younger age.
Of course, what they can learn is limited as they first need to become an Ascendant to awaken their Spirit Armament, meditate, and break free of their Mortal Shackles, to ascend higher into the Divine Path.
Nonetheless, education is education. It can sharpen one's mind and lay the foundation for their cultivation.
"Are you already an Ascendant to be sure of that? Even Ascendants cannot determine who will survive or not in the Bloodline Pool. Who are you to be sure that I will fail the Awakening?" Kyrell retorted, each of his words striking the youth heavily, leaving him speechless.
"Y-you!" That was the only thing the youth could say, he was unable to think of any response.
Fortunately, it didn't take that long before Prile brought the last child of the Patriarch, who is 15 years of age this year.
Overall, there are exactly twenty children. With a mortality rate of 50% it means that approximately only ten of them will leave this place alive.
"Everyone, stop whatever you are doing and listen to me" Prile said loudly for everyone of them to hear. He even released a formless pressure that made it hard for these children to speak or move.
This sense of oppression was formless and invisible yet very effective. The youths felt like they were a lower-level life form facing the pressure of a higher-level one. And indeed, that is actually a case.
Breaking a Mortal Shackle means elevating one's existence. The more Mortal Shackles are broken, the higher one's level of existence is. Higher-level lifeforms just by releasing their full presence can cause physical and spiritual damage to lower-level ones.
"As every one of you already knows, today, you will enter the Blood Pool in hopes to Awaken your Spirit Armament, break your first Mortal Shackle, and take your first step on the Divine Path to become an Ascendant."
"The Bloodline Pool will help you with that, and awakening on the Bloodline Pool even boosts your chance to awaken the Spirit Armament of the Everblack Family; the Halo of Decay. If you do awaken the Spirit Armament of the Halo of Decay, you will immediately become a priority for cultivation."
"The Everblack Family has the Ashrot Meditation Manual, extremely suitable for Ascendants with the Halo of Decay Spirit Armament or other similar Armaments that deal with the power of Decay."
"However, great power comes with a great price. The Bloodline Pool is made from the sacrifice of your fallen Everblack clansmen. Their blood serves as a catalyst to increase the chance of inheriting the clan's Spirit Armament, but those who fail to awaken any Spirit Armament will dissolve into a pool of blood and merge with the Bloodline Pool as a result."
"As such, I want you to do your best to succeed in becoming an Ascendant if you do not want to be reduced to a mere sustenance for the Bloodline Pool"
Towards the latter part of his speech, Prile's tone became colder, and he ordered the twenty kids, all 15 years of age, to enter the Bloodline Pool.
Each one of them shows visible fear and unwillingness to enter a pool that can cause their deaths. However, from a young age, all of them have been indoctrinated into the importance of the Bloodline Pool. They know that they cannot resist, if they do, they will just be forcefully thrown into the pool.
"For fifteen years, I endured the darkness of this world I suddenly came to without a warning. I went from an ordinary earthling of the 21st century into the cold and indifferent Kyrell Onyx Everblack, not because I want to, but because I cannot trust anyone"
"My mother died when I was young, possibly because of the power struggles in the clan. My father never visited me, and the servants knew that I might not survive until my 16th birthday"
"This is a cold-blooded Clan where sacrificing one's own clansmen and children is a norm, not an act of immorality, and I needed to adapt to my environment."
"Heretic's Codex, you accompanied me from the 21st-century Earth to this world with a more advanced technological civilization that coexists with cultivation. I suspect that you are the reason for my transmigration. If that is the case, do not disappoint me."
"Don't let my fifteen years of enduring this black hearted clan be in vain. Ensure that I survive the baptism of the Bloodline Pool, and I will successfully awaken my Spirit Armament to become an Ascendant!"
As soon as Kyrell finished those words in his mind, he did not hesitate to step into the pool, soaking his entire body while enduring the strong scent of blood.
He immediately felt a sense of discomfort as if millions of ants were crawling inside him while gnawing his insides.
The pain was unbearable; any ordinary child would immediately lose consciousness from such a high level of pain, and losing consciousness at this point means death. Anyone who cannot endure will melt into a pool of blood and become nothing but nutrients for other people.
Fortunately, it was as if the Heretic's Codex heard Kyrell's words.